Every winter, drivers in areas of the country such as the upper midwest face hazardous driving conditions due to snow and ice accumulation on road surfaces. While every attempt is made by state, county, and city road crews to keep the roads safe, the scope of the task in changing weather conditions can be overwhelming. Drivers with the need to travel are unable to obtain comprehensive, accurate, up-to-date information on road conditions, resulting in journeys being taken in unsafe conditions, with an increased risk of accidents.
While many states provide a telephone "hot line" describing road conditions, the information is based upon observation only, and is not detailed, or necessarily scientifically accurate as to a wide variety of data. For example, observation alone cannot necessarily determine the road temperature, the ambient temperature, nor the time delay since the road had been last plowed, sanded, or salted. In addition, visual observation is necessarily confined to widely spaced apart locations, since a state patrol office has duties more important than radioing the road and weather conditions along each mile of road.
Another drawback of the current system of advising consumers as to road conditions is the fact that only major interstates and highways are described, and the road condition descriptions must necessarily cover very large sections of road, covering hundreds of miles, with only a very general description of road condition (i.e. "50%-100% snow and ice covered").